


Collection

by LittleSweetCheeks



Category: Criminal Minds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-16
Updated: 2016-02-16
Packaged: 2018-05-21 03:56:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6037027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleSweetCheeks/pseuds/LittleSweetCheeks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of previews of stories I've started.  Each preview will have it's own tags.  If anyone wants to take my previews and run with the idea, by all means I would love too see others' ideas come to life as well.  Just let me know.</p><p>Some of these previews I already have longer stories started.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Driver

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea where this came from, nor do I yet know where it is headed.

She really hated it when she was having a great dream and suddenly the sound of a cell phone cut in, bringing her back to reality. She knew she should be used to it. Her phone was apt to ring at any time, day or night, and it wasn’t to be ignored. Ignoring it could put someone’s life at risk. She fumbled around blindly and connected the line, “Someone better be at risk of death.”

“Umm,” an unfamiliar voice started, “I was given you number. Or. I was given a number, but I can’t be sure it was the correct number. I am hoping so because I have someone here who could use a friend to come and get them.”

Garcia sat straight up in bed and willed her eyes to start working. “Who are you? What’s wrong?”

“My name is Joe. I’m a bartender at The Duck’s Foot in DC. I have a guy here, he’s been here a while, since like ten. There is no way he is getting home of his own accord.”

She felt around for her glasses and looked at the clock, “He’s been there three hours drinking?”

“Yeah. He’s not causing any problems or anything, except I’m going to need to close soon. He said he works with you.”

Garcia had started getting dressed, “Tall, skinny, should length hair? Looks like you should card him?”

“No.”

“Huh.” She hesitated as she grabbed her keys, she had expected the call to be about Reid. He was her first, and really only work-related, guess. “Well, it will take me about twenty minutes to get there.”

“Okay, thanks. I will remind him you are on your way.”

\----

His head was on the bar. He had no idea what time it was, just that the bartender was cleaning up around him and the few remaining patrons. “Is she coming?” He asked as the man passed by again.

Joe checked his watch, “Any minute I suspect. Just who is this woman you work with? Normally guys don’t ask me to call female co-workers for a pick-up. Friends, girlfriends, cabs, the odd wife, but not female co-workers.”

He turned his head to blearily look at Joe with one eye over his arm. “She’s family. When you call, she comes. She doesn’t ever not answer. She’s always just there.”

Joe rested his arms on the bar, “You call her in the middle of the night and wake her up often? That’s no way to treat a lady.” Joe noticed his patron suddenly looked close to tears at his words, he hoped this friend arrived soon.

“I know.”

Joe looked up as the door opened, letting in the cold and a bit of snow and a woman he suspected was the anticipated friend. She was in bright pink jeans, tucked into functional black snow boots with a puffy green coat keeping her warm. He watched her scan the bar and land her eyes on the form leaning on his arms at the bar, only his back in her view. “Is he yours?”


	2. Memorial

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little depressing. Futurefic.

In the middle was a small round memorial. A circle of paving stones with a small pillar the rose about waist high, topped with a small plaque and a quote. She didn’t need to read the plaque, she had the quote memorized. She heard soft footsteps in the grass behind her stop some distance away. She knew he was waiting at the tree line for her to be ready for him to join. 

The circle was made up of headstones. There was space enough for a dozen, but part of them were still simple blank markers, still waiting for their permanent occupant to come along. She remembered first hearing about the circle, the memorial, not long after the ground was purchased. At the time she thought it was morbid, planning ahead for your own death. But now she was thankful that she didn’t have to wander far to be surrounded by family.

After a bit she glanced over her shoulder at the man waiting in the shade. When they made eye contact, he slowly joined her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. “I miss them all. Every time another name gets added, a part of me hates this place a bit more.”

“It seems like we are here more often lately.”

He was quiet a moment, he rested his nose in her blonde hair, “I know.”

She turned to face the headstone just to their left, “I remember hearing stories of his younger days, do you remember much about him from then?”

The young man nodded, “He was around a lot on the weekends. He got a kick out of telling me stuff Dad didn’t want me to hear. Especially as I got older. Especially if the stories were about Dad.”

“My memories of him are all of after... He would sit with me on his lap and tell me I reminded him of my Mama. I remember he kept cookies in the bottom drawer of his desk. Then one day he wasn’t there. I drove out to see him…”

“He wasn’t afraid of much, but when the cancer came on fast like that…He just set out to enjoy what he could. He felt it was the best thing to do.”

“I can’t believe it’s been five years…” She choked. “He was there the day Mama died. He took me in his arms and told me he promised he would always be there and I just cried for what seemed like forever. He stayed that whole night, holding me while I slept and cried. I was young and I didn’t have anyone else in the world.” She tugged the man’s hand and they moved to the bench in the shade. “Do you remember my Mama?”

He gazed at a different stone in quiet contemplation. This headstone was smaller, a glittery rose color. “There was a time, when I was a kid, maybe middle school age, when I wished my Dad and your Mama would move in together. She was so fun, and so smart! And I believed she could do anything… I think sometimes my Dad did too. I would catch him watching her with this look I didn’t understand and… Then, when I was ten, she showed up at our house in the middle of the night. I remember waking up and she was upset. Dad had called to have my Aunt come and get me and I went and stayed with her for a week. It was unusual because Dad never sent me away while he was home. When I tried to ask my Aunt and Uncle about it, they changed the subject. They wouldn’t talk to me about it. I think it was the only time where all of them were not simply honest with me.”

“I’m glad they didn’t get together.” She leaned against his shoulder, taking comfort from him.

“Yeah, me too.” He watched workers in the distance, “When she died, I remember the phone ringing. I was home with Dad that last summer before college and the phone rang during dinner…”

“They never could just let a phone ring…”

“No. It was a nurse from GWU Hospital who told him the situation and asked him to come right away. I drove, he was so silent and still in the car. After they told us your Mama was gone and what had happened they let us see her. He took her hand and kissed it and then just cried. I’d never seen him so distraught. 

Uncle Derek told me that when he walked in, it was like he was reliving a nightmare watching him just break down over her.”  
“I never knew that.”

\---

He took stock of the headstones and space markers surrounding them. The one directly in front would be taken away soon and replaced with an engraved stone. Just to the left was Uncle Dave and his marker that spoke of who he had been. Husband, Father, Agent, Friend. A man who lived caring for others and who died surrounded by family and friends.

The next two spaces had simple markers, waiting for their future companions who were still enjoying the realm of the living. Of the next two, one had a small, flat stone and told of a boy, a young man really, who left the world too soon. A boy who had shaved off his blonde curls and become Soldier LaMontagne. The soldier who died doing what he believed in.

Directly across the circle from the grave that would soon be dug was the first to have been filled. The young man turned to the pink headstone, the stone that marked where his mother-in-law to-be rested. It seemed fitting that her small, pink stone was across from what would soon be a tall, dark, thin one. A yin and yang. Opposite and yet complimentary. 

Of the five remaining spaces that made up the remainder of the ring, only one was occupied. He didn’t really know her, just gifts and cards on special occasions. But her inclusion and that fact her casket had been flown from overseas spoke of how valued she was. Emily Prentiss was probably the only person he would ever know in his life to have had two graves. After all she saw in her life, it wasn’t work in which she found her end. Emily had died peacefully in her sleep just after her 60th birthday. 

\---

His phone chirped and they both jolted slightly back into the present. He checked to verify the sender and stood, “It’s time to go. They’re all waiting on us now.”


	3. Forgotten

Jack remembered a conversation his Uncle Spencer had had with him once. He’d been young and Uncle Spence had stayed with him overnight because his dad was in the hospital. Spencer had snuggled into the bed beside him and told him that if anything ever happened, to give him a call. That he wouldn’t get upset if it turned out to be nothing, or if it was something other grown-ups might think was silly. 

Jack remembered that conversation as he watched from the bedroom doorway as his dad was getting dressed. Gone was the practiced efficiency of years ago, now he stumbled and struggled to assemble an outfit to wear. Jack considerd calling out to him, to offer to help him dress, but knew his dad may not hear him and he didn’t want to just appear in the room, didn’t want to risk startling the older man and causing him to fall. Jack knew today, he needed to make that call.

“Jack?” Spencer answered after the first ring.

“Hey Spence, dad needs you now.” He was solemn. 

“Okay. I will be there shortly. What is happening?”

“He, umm, today he is trying to get ready to go to see Penny. He says they have a date and he doesn’t want to be late.” Jack sighed, on the verge of tears. “I tried to talk to him, but, he’s…I think it’s time Spence.”

“I’m on my way.” Spencer hung up. As he made his way to the Hotchner home, he thought about what he would have to do. If Hotch thought he had a date with Penny, then today he didn’t remember she had died five years ago.


	4. Wrecked

Consciousness returned in flashes.

Grey driving rain.

Flashes of orange construction barrels.

Traffic light.

Blast of an air horn.

Brakes.

Tires screaming as they failed to grip pavement.

Darkness.

\---

The pain was unbearable. The silence was deafening. Somewhere his brain processed that he hadn’t been alone in the vehicle. That he needed to check on everyone else. There was a feeling of hanging. A feeling that the rain pelting him was coming from the wrong direction.   
Suddenly his senses roared back to life and he groaned in pain. He cracked his eyes open just as his surroundings gained an eerie blue hue and the hard rain became only a deafening sound. 

Voices. A woman’s voice that he couldn’t place was in his personal space. Another voice sounded distant. “The driver is coming around, but he looks pinned. The passenger behind him is unresponsive but has a steady pulse. I can’t reach the others. There are four total in here.”

“Emergency responders are on their way, should only be a few minutes out.” The distant voice replied.

“Okay. There’s not a lot that can be done in the way of first aid until they arrive.” The woman’s voice got closer to him and he tried to crack one eye open. “Sir? You need to stay very still, help will be here in a minute. Is there someone who needs to know where you guys are?”

“Yeh…” He coughed out, “Yes…phone.” Talking was taking more effort that he expected. Even with his eyes closer he could feel the edges of blackness closing back in.

The woman patted his coat and found a phone. Flipping it open, she crossed her fingers and pressed redial to call back the last number.

“I swear I’m looking, but you have to give me more time than this! I know I say I work magic but it is ridiculous if you think I can look it up this fast!” A rapid fire string of statements came when the line connected.

“Hello?”

The woman on the other end froze. “Who are you and why do you have this phone?”

“My name is Aubrey and I am at the site of an accident. An eighteen wheeler plowed through a stoplight and hit an SUV. The owner of this phone was behind the wheel. There are three other people in the vehicle. The hospital will need any information you can provide.”

Across the line came a gasp and the sound of clicking. “Oh. My God. Ohmygodohmygodohmygod.” A clearing of her throat. “My name is Penelope Garcia, I am a tech analyst for the FBI. The four people in that vehicle are FBI agents. I will need to know what hospital they are going to. There are two other members of the team somewhere down there, I will be getting ahold of them now.” She took a shuddering breath, “Can you tell me who else is in the vehicle so I know who I need to call?”


	5. Support

Hotch shut the back of his SUV and stared up at the front of their new home. Home. It didn’t quite feel real yet that this would be their home. He had purchased the large single level ranch two months ago, and with a little help, he and Jack were moving in this weekend. All of their earthly belongings had been loaded into trucks and tomorrow the team was arriving bright and early to start the unloading and unpacking. For tonight, Jack had asked if they could go ahead and sleep on air mattresses in their new place. 

As Hotch stood taking it in, neighbors came by taking their dog on an evening walk. “Finally moving in?”

Hotch gave them a smile, “Yes. Everything is finally ready.” He put out his hand, “Aaron Hotchner, my son is Jack, he’s twelve.”

“Jim Neely, this is my wife Jeanette.” They both shook his hand. “Is it just the two of you?”

“No. Next week someone else will be joining us.”

“Your wife?” Jeanette asked, “I noticed some of the equipment they were installing, I’m a nurse at the long term care hospital across town.”

“Jack’s mother passed away a number of years ago. The equipment is for a friend who will be living with us. He has been in Daville Rehab Center for the past eight months. “

The couple nodded in understanding, “Car accident?”

“No. He was shot in the head.”


End file.
